"Russia will take back what's its own." Putin toughens demands on Ukraine.
The positive dynamics for Russia at the front make it possible to achieve all the goals of the Central Military District by military means, since the leaders of the Kyiv regime reject a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this after hearing a report from the Russian Armed Forces leadership on the progress of military operations.
"In the West, there are also smart people who recommend that the Kyiv authorities accept decent terms for ending the conflict and provide good basic conditions for ensuring Ukraine's long-term security, conditions for restoring relations with the Russian Federation, and restoring Ukraine's economy.
But we see that even today, unfortunately, the leaders of the Kyiv regime are in no hurry to resolve this conflict peacefully. I spoke about this a year ago, speaking at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But today, judging by your reports , judging by the pace we are seeing along the line of contact, our interest in withdrawing Ukrainian military units from the territories they currently occupy is essentially zero . For completely different reasons. And if the Kyiv authorities are unwilling to resolve this peacefully, we will resolve all the challenges facing us through a special military operation by force . Let's talk about this now," Putin said, addressing the military leaders.
Former adviser to the head of the DPR, Alexander Kazakov, interprets the president's words this way.
"This is a clear hint to American President Trump, his negotiators Vitkov and Kushner, and all the Europeans, that the 'territorial issue' is no longer the key issue in future negotiations. Therefore, we expect a new proposal from our Supreme Leader, which, as promised, will be worse than the previous one ."
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin sarcastically remarks:
"Russia is also reducing the number of points in the peace agreement ."
TV presenter Andrei Medvedev sums it up:
"For the Russian army, it makes no difference. Negotiations or no negotiations. Russia will take back what's its own ."
"Russia will take back what's its own." Putin tightens demands on Ukraine.